Track Descriptions

Each proposal will be evaluated in one of the tracks listed below.

Track 1: Collaborate from Where You Are

Collaboration at all levels has become a strategic imperative and an essential best practice for individuals and organizations in higher education. IT organizations, libraries, and other information providers are finding new ways to partner both with external vendors and institutions as well as campus organizations, faculty, researchers, and students to better support the work of the academy. What are the challenges to forming partnerships that work? What works, and what doesn’t? What ingredients are needed to create and sustain effective partnerships and collaborations?

This track will provide real-world examples of successful collaborations and insights into how and why they did or didn’t work. We encourage proposals for case studies of partnerships that will share lessons learned or can underscore the essential elements of building effective collaborations.

Key topics include:

• Multi-Institutional Collaborations Between Campuses, Organizations, and Vendors
• Community Collaborations with K–12, Cultural Organizations, Government, and Business
• Partnering Effectively with Cross-Campus Groups and Organizations
• Partnering with Faculty to Create Learning and Research Infrastructure
• Governance Strategies and Structures for Sustainable Collaborations
• Resource Support: Best Practices from Grant Writing to Cost-Benefit Allocation
• Shared Leadership and Other Best Practices to Build Effective Stakeholder Relationships
• Assessment and Evaluation: Benchmarking and Metrics
• Communicating and Documenting Collaborations: MOUs, MOAs, and Reporting
• IT-Library Cooperation and Collaborations

Track 2: IT Agility for a Constantly Changing Environment

The higher education IT community faces a constantly shifting and changing environment. We must develop agile organizations of creative thinkers to continue to provide and improve IT services in the face of changing demographics and technology expectations, increased demand for compliance with government and other requirements, and decreasing resources. How are we as a community responding to changes on our campuses that result from these and other outside forces? How are we changing the way we work and select strategies to support current services and meet new demands? What strategic decisions are we implementing to engage and better serve our users? What metrics are we using to determine if we are succeeding?

This track seeks examples of ways the higher education IT community is strategically facing these environmental changes within a culture of assessment and accountability.

Key topics include:

• Agile Organizational Structure and Decision Making
• Responding to Stakeholders’ Rising Technology Expectations
• Responding to Rapid Changes in Technology and Business Process
• Serving Traditional, Distance Learning, and “Swirling” Students
• Responses to the Spelling Commission Report: Strategic Planning, Assessment Case Studies, Enhancing Readiness, and Cost Containment
• Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining Skilled Staff and Leaders
• Responding to Economic Constraints
• Strategies for Emergency Preparedness
• Complying with Government Requirements and Planning for Privacy and Legal Issues

Track 3: IT Infrastructure: Adding Value and Helping Organizations Achieve Their Strategic Objectives

Progressive enhancements in the development of key infrastructure technologies provide a unique opportunity for organizations today to achieve strategic objectives. The disconnected systems and questionable security methods of the past are giving way to a future focused on underlying core infrastructure and systems that support information management to ensure relevant, secure information reaches the right people at the right time. This track will explore IT infrastructure deployment and management of core support systems including portals, Web services, server consolidation, and emerging critical technologies as well as privacy and security considerations that enable organizations to achieve best practices and success across the entire IT organization. We invite presentations that demonstrate how IT organizations have added value to their stakeholders and their institutions.

Key topics include:

• Document, Content, and Knowledge Management
• Data Storage, Backup, and Curation
• Desktop Management, Security, Software Deployment, and User Training
• Server Consolidation and Virtualization
• Outsourcing and Offshoring
• Identity Management
• Information Privacy and Security
• Enterprise Systems
• Research Computing
• Sustainability of IT Operations
• Web Services and Portals
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Track 4: Technology to Support Learning

In today's quickly changing environment, it is vital that everyone is actively engaged in the learning process. Given that each person has a unique focus, higher education is challenged to meet a variety of personal learning agendas arising from the many constituencies it serves. Campuses are also being asked to continually upgrade their employees’ skills and often the community’s as well, both locally and globally. How are campuses effectively meeting these goals? What are the creative uses of novel technologies that support teaching and learning? How can we best establish the resources and support needed to allow learning to flourish for each individual?

Key topics include:

• Innovative Uses of Learning Management Systems
• The Role of Web 2.0 Technologies in the Academy
• Web Conferencing
• The World as a Classroom
• Promoting and Supporting Campus-Wide Technology Use
• Using Gaming to Facilitate Learning
• Information Fluency and Beyond
• Preparing Net Gen Faculty
• Using Personal Media Devices in Teaching and Learning
• Assessing Learning Outcomes
• Spaces That Enhance Teaching and Learning: Smart Classrooms and Learning Commons
• Digital Collections

Corporate and Campus Solutions

Corporate and Campus Solutions track presentations will be accepted via the "Corporate Participation" link. Please note that these are presentations by a corporation coupled with a client campus on technology challenges and solutions. A fee of $1,475 for members and $1,675 for non-members will be required to present. Sign up via the "Contract to Participate" on the Corporate Participation page.